Americans are not accustomed to thinking strategically about Africa, having long dismissed the continent as irrelevant to U.S. national security. Nonetheless, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, it is increasingly clear that the United States ignores Africa at its peril.
Al Qaeda and its allies have perpetrated attacks in a half dozen African countries from Kenya to Morocco, while the continent’s failed states and huge swaths of ungoverned territory offer sanctuary to terrorist groups. In addition, Africa’s large Muslim population shows disturbing signs of radicalization, with the adoption of Islamic Sharia law in northern Nigeria and the spread of Saudi-funded fundamentalism elsewhere in the region. All this comes as America is growing increasingly reliant on African oil, which already accounts for 15 percent of U.S. imports and is expected to become even more important in the decade ahead.
Is Africa America’s blind spot in the global war on terror? How significant is the danger of al Qaeda and Islamic extremism there? How is the Pentagon, which has quietly dispatched 1,800 troops to combat terrorism in the Horn of Africa since late 2002, adapting to meet this threat? How will access to Africa’s vast natural resource wealth affect the global balance of power in the twenty-first century? Can African oil and gas reserves save the United States from dependence on the Middle East?
Please join AEI for a day-long conference on American national security interests in Africa in a post-9/11 world.
